Smartphones have been part of our lives for over a decade now. These little computers in our hands have put the world at our fingertips; from the ability to access Google Maps to tracing a health tech company that specializes in finding cures for rare diseases. Your mobile device is also an access point for mobile learning. Mobile learning, defined as education or training conducted using portable computing devices such as smartphones or tablet computers, is only viable if you give the following points serious consideration.

1. Evaluate the digital literacy of your workforce

The first step is to establish your workforce’s level of digital literacy. Don’t assume that just because an employee is a certain age, he is probably not very skilled on a mobile device. Do a digital literacy test to establish competency level. Then let employees know why you are doing it and that the outcome won’t affect their performance evaluation.

2. Choose your LMS strategically

It’s important that from the outset, you choose a learning management system (LMS) that will work for both desktop and mobile learning. This is necessary because not everyone is comfortable with learning using a mobile device. Many people find small screens difficult to navigate and read from. It’s important to grant employees the choice to learn using either a mobile device or a desktop. Otherwise, you’ll struggle to get a commitment to your learning goals.

3. Consider data requirements                                   

Some content, like video, requires a lot of data and you can’t expect employees to cover that cost. If you expect your employees to increase their professional skills through mobile learning, it’s important to make the process easy for them. Your employees should be able to access your content while offline or connected on weaker WiFI that doesn’t gobble up a lot of data. Animations and infographics are examples of formats that are engaging but don’t require loads of data.

4. Keep the learning units small

Small learning units facilitate microlearning. Microlearning is ideal for corporate and commercial training. Microlearning features short bursts of content that are easy to study and absorb in a short time. The content can take many forms, from text to videos, but it should be short. For instance, video content should not exceed 4 minutes. Anything longer and you lose learner engagement. Another reason to keep learning units short is the fact that people don’t have time to sit down for hours to study. Microlearning makes it possible to learn in short bursts between other responsibilities.

5. Keep your mobile learning strategy flexible

In today’s workplace, all employees don’t follow the same work schedule; some work remotely. If your mobile learning includes classroom-based learning, you might have to allow remote learners to access the class remotely via their mobile devices. You’ll also have to consider different course assignment deadlines for people who work on different schedules.

 6. Point-of-need learning

One of the strongest motivations for establishing a mobile learning program in your workplace is the opportunity it offers for point-of-need learning. Point-of-need learning means people can maximize learning opportunities as and when they need it. Just like anyone with a smartphone can use the search engines on their phones when they need to learn something new, your LMS should also provide instant answers to any questions learners might have about the learning content.

The nature of work is changing. Adopting a well-planned mobile learning model can be an important step in helping employees to adapt to the demands of a changing work environment.